March 27, 2008

BusinessWeek

Aftershocks at Bear Stearns

In a week it was all gone:  Bear Stearns' reputation, culture, identity; the savings of many of its 14,000 employees and possibly their jobs, too.

A comedown of such magnitude would be traumatic for any organization. Within the next couple of weeks, people expect the layoffs at Bear to begin. Employees already have been given general guidelines for what to expect in terms of retention bonuses and severance payments. Of course, this is not a great time to be looking for a job in finance. "We'd tell employees to look forward," says Richard A. Chaifetz, who runs ComPsych, which provides employee assistance services. "Have they rethought what they want out of a career? They might find something more fulfilling."